Missing children

This refers to the article, ‘Missing children and missing pieces’ (August 11) by Chris Cork in one of the leading newspapers in which the writer has discussed at length the issue of missing children and has brought to light the story within the story that some of those missing children were being taken to have their organs harvested. According to the writer, there is no first-hand account of a child being taken from the street, brought to a medical facility ad-hoc or otherwise, their organs removed and then killed and their bodies dumped. Moreover, the writer has rightly said that there are enough willing donors to make kidnap-for-harvesting an unlikely option for organised criminals.

According to the writer, children who go missing and are reported as such are often recorded by the police as ‘abducted’ whatever the actual reason for their absence from the home and in order to address this issue, the Punjab police have presented a well-designed infographic that breaks down the various categories of missing children and resolution of their cases. Therefore, hats off to Punjab police as the move highlights that the police authorities are really concerned about the sensitivity of the issue. Since we have seen a range of stories both on social media and in the mainstream about children who have gone missing therefore, we all must check our sources and origins before sending or sharing any such news in order to avoid the spread of any misleading information.